Psalms 10:1

Psalm 10 1 

10:1 Why, Lord, do you stand far off?

Why do you pay no attention during times of trouble? 2 

Psalms 55:8

55:8 I will hurry off to a place that is safe

from the strong wind 3  and the gale.”

Psalms 109:15

109:15 May the Lord be constantly aware of them, 4 

and cut off the memory of his children 5  from the earth!

Psalms 109:23

109:23 I am fading away like a shadow at the end of the day; 6 

I am shaken off like a locust.

Psalms 119:176

119:176 I have wandered off like a lost sheep. 7 

Come looking for your servant,

for I do not forget your commands.

1 sn Psalm 10. Many Hebrew mss and the ancient Greek version (LXX) combine Psalms 9 and 10 into a single psalm. Taken in isolation, Psalm 10 is a petition for help in which the psalmist urges the Lord to deliver him from his dangerous enemies, whom he describes in vivid and terrifying detail. The psalmist concludes with confidence; he is certain that God’s justice will prevail.

2 tn Heb “you hide for times in trouble.” The interrogative “why” is understood by ellipsis; note the preceding line. The Hiphil verbal form “hide” has no expressed object. Some supply “your eyes” by ellipsis (see BDB 761 s.v. I עָלַם Hiph and HALOT 835 s.v. I עלם hif) or emend the form to a Niphal (“you hide yourself,” see BHS, note c; cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV).

3 tn Heb “[the] wind [that] sweeps away.” The verb סָעָה (sa’ah, “sweep away”) occurs only here in the OT (see H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena [SBLDS], 120).

4 tn Heb “may they [that is, the sins mentioned in v. 14] be before the Lord continually.”

5 tn Heb “their memory.” The plural pronominal suffix probably refers back to the children mentioned in v. 13, and for clarity this has been specified in the translation.

6 tn Heb “like a shadow when it is extended I go.” He is like a late afternoon shadow made by the descending sun that will soon be swallowed up by complete darkness. See Ps 102:11.

7 tn Heb “I stray like a lost sheep.” It is possible that the point of the metaphor is vulnerability: The psalmist, who is threatened by his enemies, feels as vulnerable as a straying, lost sheep. This would not suggest, however, that he has wandered from God’s path (see the second half of the verse, as well as v. 110).